(Renewable Energy Focus) The researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) says the clostridium thermocellum could be used to genetically modify biomass plants to produce more ethanol, avoiding the use of expensive enzymes to break down plants’ barriers guarding the sugars...8/16

(e! Science News) Researchers from North Carolina State University, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and CFD Research Corporation have found a new way to develop straight carbon nanofibers on a transparent substrate...8/16

(Newswise) Five of the world's most advanced instruments for neutron scattering research are serving the neutron science community following the completion of the $68.5 million SING project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The project to design, build and install the five instruments for neutron scattering analysis at the SNS, funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Science, was recently finished ahead of schedule and under budget....8/16

DOE

(Knoxville News Sentinel) One of the government's drivers for pushing forward with plans to construct a multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 is the deteriorated condition of the plant's 9212 complex, where workers currently process bomb-grade uranium...8/16

(Knoxville News Sentinel) According to the report, since 2000 Tennessee has decreased its infant mortality rate by 9 percent (although, at 8 deaths per 1,000 live births, it's still higher than the national rate of 6)...8/17

National

(Los Angeles Times) Firearms from the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious weapons trafficking investigation turned up at the scenes of at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., as well as at a Border Patrol agent's slaying in southern Arizona last year, the Justice Department has acknowledged to Congress...8/17

(USA Today) A new survey finds that more Americans today like their kids' public schools than at any time in the past 36 years — even though they believe U.S. education in general has taken a bit of a dive...8/17

(New York Times) A program that is central to President Obama’s immigration enforcement strategy has drawn protests by Latino and immigrant organizations in six cities in the last two days, as those groups stepped up their confrontation with the administration over the fast pace of deportations...8/17

energy & science policy

(Nature News) Microbiologist David Lewis knew he might upset the biosolids industry with his research, which suggested that the spreading of sewage sludge on land could make people sick. But he didn't expect his employer, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), not to back him up...8/16

(Energy.gov) President Obama today announced that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy will invest up to $510 million during the next three years in partnership with the private sector to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation...8/17

science & technology

(Science Daily) From hot pink to traditional French and Lady Gaga's sophisticated designs, manicured nails have become the grammar of fashion. But they are not just pretty—when nails appeared on all fingers and toes in modern primates about 55 million years ago...8/15

(National Geographic) Boasting "crazy" evolutionary adaptations, a new group of so-called fanged frogs—cousins of this Luzon fanged frog (file picture)—has been discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, according to biologist Ben Evans...8/16

(Popular Science) A bipedal robot developed at the University of Michigan can run with a human-like gait, the fastest-ever robot with knees. Feedback algorithms are helping Mabel, a headless robot with impressive gams, to keep its balance as it runs in a round pen...8/16

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